Community Takes Aim Against Crime

WINTER PARK — Residents in the predominantly black area on the west side of town apparently are fed up with crime and are doing something about it.

Eight Neighborhood Watch programs have been organized in that area since December, joining the two existing programs there, said Neighborhood Watch program coordinator Richard Nuss.

The two older programs, both covering small neighborhoods, were the only ones that had been established on the west side of town since the Winter Park Police Department began the program six years ago.

Nuss said he got the names of new contacts on the west side in December. With the help of those contacts and the city's multiracial Human Relations Council, eight neighborhoods with about 300 homes joined the program.

''Most crimes in the black community are black on black, meaning people in the neighborhood commit the crimes and are often known to their victims,'' Nuss said.

''The big push in Central Florida recently has been to attack that problem. In our case, it was not that we didn't try to get the programs going in the west side but there was just no interest among enough residents,'' he said.

Nuss said the main obstacle he has had to overcome in getting the program started on the west side is the residents' fear of retaliation if they testify against a criminal. Statistics compiled nationwide have shown that such retaliation very rarely happens, he said.

''We had a case in the area where there were several cat burglaries, and residents would report the crime but would not tell who they suspected because he lived in the area,'' Nuss said. ''Someone finally came forward and that guy is now in jail,'' he said.

Nuss said he believes residents are fed up with having a few people terrorize them and are willing to take the risks in order to clean up their neighborhoods.

Mae Rose Williams, 75, leads a new watch program on Webster Avenue, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Denning Drive. She signed up about 14 of her neighbors before she called Nuss to help them set up the program.

''I've always been interested in it. I just never got involved before,'' Williams said. ''I feel it will alert the neighbors to the welfare of one another. I don't feel we watch out for one another as deeply as we used to. I feel this will get people closer together.''

Sallie Rambeau leads the new program on DePaugh Street. She said she tried for about two years to get it going.

''I felt like we needed it because we'd had a lot happen on our street,'' Rambeau said. ''Directly across the street from me a guy's car was stolen. After he got it back someone busted the glass out and down the street two more cars were broken into.''

The other new watch programs are on Carolina Avenue, the 400 block of Canton Avenue, The Meadows apartments at Margaret Square, The Oaks apartments at Denning Drive and Webster Avenue, and two apartment complexes on Lee Road -- Winter Park Greens and Frenchman's Cove. The Tranquil Terrace apartment complex and Northwood Circle have had the programs for about four years.

Nuss said that during 1985, three times more burglaries were committed in areas without a Neighborhood Watch program than areas with it. The majority of residential burglaries in Winter Park have occurred in the black community, despite the fact it is a significantly smaller residential area, he said.

''I attended a Human Relations Council meeting and close to 60 people attended just to hear about the watch program,'' Nuss said.

''Because of that we have several other programs that will be starting soon and, by the end of the summer, I anticipate half of the black community on the west side will be involved,'' he said.